We've wanted to offer the Outsak UL at a discount to BPL members, but we have been busy. My wife and I just had a baby and life has been hectic.

A sale on Outsak UL is coming and it is only going to be offered to BPL forum members. It is going to take a little extra work on our part and BPL members who want to take advantage of this sale will have to jump thru a hoop or two. We are doing this in a effort to thank BPL and Carol Crooker for mentioning Outsak UL as a 2010 BPL Staff Pick for gear.

The sale details will be announced mid-week, with the sale starting soon after.

David, that's quite gracious of you. The Outsack UL is a great piece of gear, and it is probably on the list of my top 3 items for 2010 as well. I used it 5-6 times last summer, and it performed flawlessly.

Also, the Outsaks are great pieces of gear. I own a large as well as an UL and they are both great. It is nice to know that my food is protected in them. I make sure to hang a bear bag properly, so that keeps the bears at bay, but those pesky squirrels are another matter all together. In the Smokies it is nothing for them to launch from a tree branch to a hanging bag, but the Outsak still protects from that!

Very kind of you to offer the price break. Congrats. Kids are a blessing.

Regulations about canisters has gotten a bit strange since the SIBBG no longer exists. It's now done on a park by park basis. Yosemite still requires canisters. A small bit of the PCT, but a fairly large piece of the JMT. The other thing is that while several sierra areas have dropped the "SIBBG approved" requirement, they still say "bear resistant". So while ursack might get by, the outsak most likely wouldn't be considered since it's aimed at smaller animals.

I was waiting in line for a wilderness permit in Yosemite, and one fellow was two in front of me. Then the ranger asked if he had a bear canister, and he said that he did. The ranger asked which one, and the fellow could not spit out any brand name, so the ranger told him to bring it into the permit station to be inspected. The fellow got it out of his car trunk and brought it in. He had a big rectangular Tuppermaid box covered in a few directions with duct tape. The ranger almost laughed, and refused to issue him any permit with that contraption. The ranger had a rental canister, but the fellow would not cough up the $5 or whatever to rent it. Instead, he just left without any permit. However, the ranger already knew where he was going, so she radioed over to the trail patrol rangers to be on the lookout for him and to have their citation book ready.

I had my food inside my bear canister inside my pack. So, when I mentioned the brand of bear canister that she did not recognize, she wanted to inspect it. I flopped my pack out onto the floor and pointed to mid-way where the bear canister was (inside). She simply rapped her knuckles on it, and when she heard that solid thump, she said it was OK.

The Outsak sale will happen shortly after we are home and settled. It will be the biggest discount we have ever offered on our Outsak products. We are not going to limit it to the UL models, this sale will apply to all of our Outsak bags, and it won't last long.